Morningside Heights
Coordinates: 40 ° 48 ′ 36.72 ″ N , 73 ° 57 ′ 23.76 ″ W Morningside Heights is a neighborhood in north Manhattan in New York City .
The area
Morningside Heights is a neighborhood in Borough Manhattan , New York City , located on a small hill west of Harlem . The boundaries of the area have long been unofficially designated as the Upper West Side (south), Riverside Park (west), Morningside Park (east) and 123rd Street. Most New Yorkers consider 110th Street to be the "border" or dividing line between Morningside Heights and the Upper West Side, although others claim the actual southern border is 106th Street or even 100th Street. Riverside Drive is adjacent to the park of the same name, and Morningside Drive runs alongside Morningside Park. Broadway is the main street; The Line 1 subway station is at the intersection of 116th Street and Broadway, just outside the Columbia University entrance . Morningside Heights is sometimes mistaken for part of the Upper West Side, although this view is debatable, as many value the neighborhood's individual character.
The term “Academic Acropolis” is often used to describe this area. For one, it sits on top of one of Manhattan's few natural elevations, and for another, there are numerous academic institutions there, including Columbia University with the most land. Their campus is remarkable with its fields, meadows and trees in the middle of Manhattan. The university has bought a lot of real estate, apartment buildings, etc. in the last four decades as the administration wants to improve the image of the neighborhood. These plans have at times provoked unrest and opposition. The Barnard College (for women only) is just across the Columbia campus. It is part of Columbia but has an independent academic administration. Institutions completely independent from Columbia are: the Union Theological Seminary (Protestant), the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Bank Street College of Education.
Also in the neighborhood are the Episcopalian Cathedral ( Cathedral Church of St John the Divine ), Riverside Church ( funded by John D. Rockefeller ), International House , General Grant National Memorial, and St Luke Hospital .
history
Beginnings
On September 16 in 1776 at fighting the Revolutionary War , the Continental Army of the Americans against the British army. The Battle of Harlem Heights took place in a field of wheat that is now the property of Barnard College. Harlem Heights was the name of the area at the time.
For decades there had been tension between Morningside Heights and the adjacent Harlem district . It cannot be denied that a good part of the dispute was linked to racism. When Columbia University bought its first property and constructed its buildings in the 1890s, the area was still partly rural and partly inhabited by middle-class or wealthy whites. In the decades after 1900, Harlem became increasingly black and poor, while Columbia wanted to remain a "white island". The then president, influential Nicholas Murray Butler , had racist views. The university at that time had a strict numerus clausus to exclude Jews, blacks and other undesirable minorities. So the university tried to keep poor residents out of the immediate area.
crisis
The situation worsened in the 1960s. The students had become more radical and protested against the Vietnam War and the university's detachment from student affairs. In the spring of 1968 the administration announced that the university wanted to build a new fitness center in Morningside Park. Initially, the university intended to exclude the (mostly black) residents of the neighborhood without exception. When the students and the various neighborhood groups reacted violently, Grayson Kirk, the then president of the university, offered a compromise: the so-called "non-students" would be allowed access through a door behind the building. The situation in Morningside Heights turned into turmoil, the students went on strike, occupied the administrative offices and shut down the whole university. The farewell ceremonies had to be canceled. Kirk eventually had to quit under pressure and the fitness center was never built. It was not until the 1990s that the holes dug by excavators in the park were closed.
The conflict with its neighbors caused by the university still exists today. Gradually, the area is gentrified , that is, upgraded through renovation. Many people are still protesting against it: They claim the unique, charming character of their district will gradually be destroyed if the old, simple shops are replaced by chain stores, so that it will look like a supposedly typical American suburb. In addition, rent is becoming too expensive for the poor and minorities.
Famous residents
Comedian George Carlin grew up on 121st Street in Morningside Heights. He referred to the area as "White Harlem". This deliberate name contrasts sharply with the usual effort to clearly distinguish the Harlem neighborhood.
- While studying at Columbia University, author Thomas Merton attended Corpus Christi Catholic Church on 121st Street, where he converted to Catholicism.
- The poet Allen Ginsberg studied at Columbia University in the 1950s. He was expelled from her after writing a poem with homosexual overtones. His work was called obscene.
- Hunter S. Thompson graduated from Columbia University but left without a degree.
- Enrico Fermi and other scientists from the Manhattan Project built the cyclotron that enabled the development of the atomic bomb in a laboratory at Columbia University .
administration
In the US House of Representatives, Morningside Heights is part of the 15th Congressional District of New York. This constituency includes the majority of Harlem. The area is particularly left in politics and has almost always voted for Democrats.
The postcodes (ZIP Codes) are 10025 and 10027.
See also
literature
- Andrew Scott Dolkart: Morningside Heights . Columbia University Press, New York, 1998, ISBN 0-231-07850-1 .
- Hopper Striker Mott: The New York of Yesterday: A Descriptive Narrative of Old Bloomingdale . Putnam's, New York / London, 1908, LCCN 08-016917 .
